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Tag Archives: Human Rights

Did you know there is a very violent group called Boko Haram (meaning “Western education is forbidden”) in Nigeria kidnapping women and girls for the purpose of converting them to radical Islam? The Boko Haram refers to themselves as the “Group of People for Sunnah for the Preaching of Islam and Jihad.” Their goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government and create an Islamic state. The fight has been going on since 2014, and they are a sector of ISIS. In the words of Boko Haram’s former leader Abubakar Shekau in 2014, “My brothers you should take slaves. I kidnapped girls from a school, and you are irritated. I say, we must stop the spread of Western education. I kidnapped the girls. I will sell them at the market with Allah’s help. There is a market where one can sell humans. Allah has told me to sell them [my emphasis]. He commands me to sell them. I sell women. I sell women.”

In award-winning reporter Wolfgang Bauer’s Stolen Girls: Survivors of Boko Haram Tell Their Story, you will find heart-breaking interviews with the female survivors of Boko Haram raids, killings, and kidnappings. These women and girls were taken from their homes in Chibok, and forced into the swamps of the Sambisa forest in northern Nigeria. Some of the girls were as young as nine years old. If they did not convert to Islam and participate in prayers and rituals, they were killed. They tell their heart-wrenching stories of how they were captured, abused, forced to watch beheadings of men and women, and how they survived after escaping by living under thick-brushed trees in the jungle.

Adult men were immediately shot when Boko Haram raided a village, and young boys were kidnapped and taught to fight for the radical group. In mid 2014, Boko Haram decided to attach bombs to mostly young women under loose dresses so they were unseen. Some of the women did not understand that they were being used as suicide bombers. In addition, Wolfgang Bauer also talks a bit about the history and politics of Nigeria and the Boko Haram, which I found very helpful and interesting. The Nigerian military and security forces fought Boko Haram, but some of those fighters became corrupted. Eventually, the terrorists entered northern Cameroon, Niger, and Chad, and then the United States became involved by sending troops. As of February, 2018, the fight to remove Boko Haram from Nigeria continues, although some control has been regained. In terms of the number of people it has killed, Boko Haram has been called the world’s deadliest terrorist group to date. They occupied a fifth of Nigeria in just a few months in 2014.

I recommend Wolfgang Bauer’s Stolen Girls: Survivors of Boko Haram Tell Their Storyto anyone interested in current Nigerian politics, ISIS, radical Islam, or human rights. Although this book is very difficult to read, it is vital to understanding the extreme insanity of radical Islam, Jihad (a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty), and the violence perpetuated by Boko Haram and ISIS.

A bit about the author, Wolfgang Bauer:

Passionate about human rights, Wolfgang Bauer began his career as a freelance reporter in 1994, after studying history, geography, and Islamic studies at the University of Tubingen. Today, he works for the leading weekly German newspaper Die Zeit, covering the Middle East and Africa. His reporting on Boko Haram has won him the prestigious Nannen Prize in 2016 in Germany as well as the Bayeau-Calvados Prize for War Correspondents in France. He is also author of Crossing the Sea: With Syrians on the Exodus to Europe, which has been translated into twelve languages. He lives in Reutlingen near Stuttgart, Germany.

“I start every day with the knowledge that helping people and fighting for justice is my duty, and that nothing worthwhile comes without sacrifice, self-discipline, and courage.” – Gloria Allred

One of my latest finds is Fight Back and Win: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Injustice and How You Can Win Your Own Battles by champion of civil and women’s rights attorney, Gloria Allred. An easy to read and very informative memoir, Allred’s book is a compilation of her most meaningful and remarkable cases (most of which she won) followed by short “empowerment lessons” at the end of each chapter. As a women’s and human rights proponent myself, I found Ms. Allred’s book nothing less than inspirational and motivational.

Fight Back and Win: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Injustice and How You Can Win Your Own Battlesby Gloria Allred demonstrates how Ms. Allred won very difficult cases despite the imperfect justice system in the United States. Allred has been involved with famous, “high profile” cases such as those of OJ Simpson, Scott Peterson and Michael Jackson, for example, as well as taking on the toughest of the toughest cases and setting precedents as a result. In this memoir, these cases are explained in detail. Gloria Allred is well known for her pioneering work for women’s rights and her tenacity to never quit no matter how bleak things look. She is nothing less than a warrior who has and still does stand up, speaks out and fights for her clients and for the rights of the oppressed. It was a pleasure to read her book!

As of the writing of this blog, Ms. Allred is representing Judy Huth (and perhaps more women) in the case against Bill Crosby, who is accused of sexual battery.

A bit about the author, Gloria Allred:

Gloria Allred is the most prominent women’s rights attorney in the United States and is one of the most recognized attorneys in the world. Over the course of her thirty-seven-year legal career, Gloria Allred has won countless honors for her pioneering legal work on behalf of women’s rights and rights for minorities. She has been a television commentator on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and Court TV, and is a three-time Emmy nominee for her television commentary on KABC Television Eye Witness News in Los Angeles.

Born an only child in a working-class home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gloria Allred earned her B.A. with honors in English from the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her M.A. from New York University and her J.D. cum laude from Loyola University School of Law in Los Angeles. She was also awarded an Honorary J.D. from the University Of West Los Angeles School Of Law. As one of the founding partners of the law firm of Allred, Maroko & Goldberg (AM&G), Gloria and her colleagues handle more women’s rights cases than any other private firm in the nation and have won hundreds of millions of dollars for victims. Allred, Maroko & Goldberg represents victims who have been discriminated against on account of their sex, race, age, physical handicap or sexual orientation. Her firm also represents victims of AIDS discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination.

To learn more about this incredible woman and her work, visit: GloriaAllred.com.

To purchase a copy of Fight Back and Win: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Injustice and How You Can Win Your Own Battles by Gloria Allred, visit Amazon.com.